Social networking sites are big news now; Facebook and Twitter now have millions of regular users. This could have something to do with The Department of Homeland Security planning to use Facebook and Twitter to issue terror alerts.

The Associated Press says they have obtained a confidential document detailing the plan, which may be put into effect by April 27. This idea is to replace the current color coded five level system with a new two tiered approach.

This new approach will label risks as elevated or imminent threats, which is hoped to simplify future warnings. Each of the new terror warnings would also come with an expiry date. Alerts would be published to the sites when appropriate, but only after federal, state and local leaders had been warned first.

The current color warnings have been criticized as being too vague to be of any use, and have even been ridiculed by some TV comedians. At the moment the plan is not final as the idea is still being discussed, but meetings are ongoing looking into it.

This new plan will surely be a good idea as many people have access to the sites even when they are not at home. Any alerts which may be posted will quickly reach Facebook and Twitter users.